May CCL Round 1 - Groves and Meadows

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

May CCL Signups/Round 1
"Groves and Meadows"


Banner made from Vivid Grove, Horizon Canopy and Vivid Meadow, by Wizards of the Coast and Howard Lyon, Noah Bradley, Rob Alexander, respectively

Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme
To balance the dryness of April, it is a Flowers month here at CCL. While the combative nature of Magic gives little room to appreciate delicate beauty of petals, this month's challanges will be inspired by them, sometimes straightforward, sometimes less.

Challenge

Design a land card with a white and/or green color identity.

Clarifications

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• A land card has a white color identity if it has anywhere in its rules text or have Plains subtype; likewise for green color identity, and Forest subtype; you can read more about color identity here.
• Your card can't have other colors in its color identity; basically, if you couldn't play your land in Trostani, Selesnya's Voice commander deck, it doesn't pass the challange.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Monday, May 6th, 12:00 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (May 1st-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (May 8th-14th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due May 17th)
• Top 6 — Open to top 6 finishers (May 17th-22nd)
• Top 6 Critiques (May April 25th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (May 25th - 29th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due June 1st)
• Final (June, winner determined by public poll)

For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate six other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[KB52665]

Luminous Everscape
Land — Scape (R)
When Luminous Everscape enters, if you control another untapped Scape, add .
: Add .

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[netn10]

Arnabiem, Home to the Rabbitfolk
Legendary Land (Mythic)
When Arnabiem enters the battlefield, target opponent creates a 1/1 green and white Rabbit creature token with a +1/+1 counter on it.
T: Add G or W. Each player may either populate or proliferate.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Itlimoc in Ruins
Legendary Land (Mythic)
Itlimoc in Ruins enters the battlefield tapped unless you control five or more creatures.
T: Add G. If you control five or more creatures, you gain 1 life.
7GGG, T: Create a 1/1 black Fungus creature token with "This creature can't block" for each land you control.

[AnotherAlias]

Thallid Thicket
Land — Forest (Uncommon)
(: Add .)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on Thallid Thicket.
Remove three spore counters from Thallid Thicket: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

[Komandon]

Field of Vitality
Land (rare)
Field of Vitality enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you gain for the first time each turn, you may untap Field of Vitality.
T: Add w.

[void_nothing]

Wood-Edge Clachan
Land (R)
Wood-Edge Clachan enters the battlefield tapped unless there is a Kithkin card in your graveyard.
T: Add G.
2W: Until end of turn, Wood-Edge Clachan becomes a 3/3 white Kithkin Soldier creature with vigilance and protection from mana value 3 or greater. It's still a land.

[Henlock]

Martyrdom of Aelies
Legendary Enchantment Land - Monument (r)
: Add .
1ww: Martyrdom of Aelies becomes a 3/4 creature with lifelink until end of turn.
: Change the target of a spell or ability to Martyrdom of Aelies.

[marioguy3]

Land of the Goats
Land (Rare)
Land of the Goats enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, : Add for each Goat token you control.
, : Create a 0/1 white Goat creature token.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

And the round is closed!
@KB52665
@netn10
@kwanyeegor-ii
@AnotherAlias
@Komandon
@void_nothing
@Henlock
@marioguy3
Please provide critiques for and choose top 3 from six contestants below you, looping if necessary.

[Henlock]

In Progress

@marioguy3: I think this can work very well with just counting any kind of Goats. Goats are not easy to make aplenty, and there aren't too many Goat cards either. Also, a mana combo with Mirror Entity seems quite cool. I think this is overall an upgrade to Springjack Pasture, as making a token for 3 mana, even a 0/1, is a good rate.

@void_nothing The prospect of a cycle of mana producing lands with an off-color manland ability is really neat and the typal ability feels like plus more than a must. Three mana is a sweet spot for a manland activation. While you can turtle all day in certain matchups, I am more interested in the ability as an antichumpblocking tech.

@Komandon Oh, this feels insanely good, in a great way. I think you made a great job at balancing it: Come in to play tapped and once each turn triggers are not well-liked, but here they feel like the proper design choice

[netn10]

kwanyeegor-ii

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Itlimoc in Ruins
Legendary Land (Mythic)
Itlimoc in Ruins enters the battlefield tapped unless you control five or more creatures.
T: Add G. If you control five or more creatures, you gain 1 life.
7GGG, T: Create a 1/1 black Fungus creature token with "This creature can't block" for each land you control.

The untapped clause is pretty harsh. The mana ability is fine. The activated ability is a nice callback to a pretty under-utilized token. I like the "can't block" use of this. The land can be non-legendary and still make sense.

AnotherAlias

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Thallid Thicket
Land — Forest (Uncommon)
(: Add .)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a spore counter on Thallid Thicket.
Remove three spore counters from Thallid Thicket: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

Very simple and clean. Problem is, this is strictly better than a basic forest. This card should have either not be a forest, or enter the battlefield tapped, possibly both.

Komandon

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Field of Vitality
Land (rare)
Field of Vitality enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you gain for the first time each turn, you may untap Field of Vitality.
T: Add w.

Pretty hard card to evaluate. On one hand, it should probably be fine as it enters the battlefield tapped. On the other hand, it can sometimes provide two white mana in a turn. Pretty interesting and simple card that's probably not auto-include even in a dedicated life-gain decks.

void_nothing

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Wood-Edge Clachan
Land (R)
Wood-Edge Clachan enters the battlefield tapped unless there is a Kithkin card in your graveyard.
T: Add G.
2W: Until end of turn, Wood-Edge Clachan becomes a 3/3 white Kithkin Soldier creature with vigilance and protection from mana value 3 or greater. It's still a land.

Strong Lorwyn energy right here. I wish Lorwyn had more green Kithkins and this card could have slide right in there. The untapped clause is simple but unique, the mana ability is interesting because we have so few green Kithkins so it acts as a small drawback, and the animate ability is pretty nice callback to Mistmeadow Skulk. 3/3 is pretty big for a Kithikin, but not unreasnable.

Henlock

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Martyrdom of Aelies
Legendary Enchantment Land - Monument (r)
: Add .
1ww: Martyrdom of Aelies becomes a 3/4 creature with lifelink until end of turn.
: Change the target of a spell or ability to Martyrdom of Aelies.

A lot is going on here. Enchantment land and not enters tapped but legendary, and being an enchantment can be a drawback, the animate ability is very strong and the last ability is unique. It can completly hose decks that use a lot of Fertile Ground cards, and you can animate this and change a creature removal or auras to it. Really hard to evaluate.

marioguy3

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Land of the Goats
Land (Rare)
Land of the Goats enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, : Add for each Goat token you control.
, : Create a 0/1 white Goat creature token.

Name is fine. Abilities are fine. I can't imagine this being the Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx of the Goats' deck (I now realize it actually it works only with tokens) but I also can't imagine it see exactly zero play. People will try to break it and probably fail. It's a cute riff on Springjack Pasture.

Top 3

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1st: void_nothing
2nd: kwanyeegor-ii
3rd: Komandon

[Komandon]

Critiques

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Wood-Edge Clachan
Land (R)
Wood-Edge Clachan enters the battlefield tapped unless there is a Kithkin card in your graveyard.
T: Add G.
2W: Until end of turn, Wood-Edge Clachan becomes a 3/3 white Kithkin Soldier creature with vigilance and protection from mana value 3 or greater. It's still a land.

Green does go with Kithkin but I think of blue with soldiers. Then gain this is Lorwyn.
The protection part is rather powerful. So this would be the best defense creature land. I think just the vigilance part overkill.

Martyrdom of Aelies
Legendary Enchantment Land - Monument (r)
: Add .
1ww: Martyrdom of Aelies becomes a 3/4 creature with lifelink until end of turn.
: Change the target of a spell or ability to Martyrdom of Aelies.

Makes me wish Flagbearer would be mad again even though this is a single effect. For it's tap effect to work most of the time would would need to make it a creature.

Land of the Goats
Land (Rare)
Land of the Goats enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, : Add for each Goat token you control.
, : Create a 0/1 white Goat creature token.

I like this a lot. I want a farm animal batching mechanic. Even with it coming into play tapped and the added mana boost I see this better than Kher Keep and do see it's update to Springjack Pasture [/card]

Luminous Everscape
Land — Scape (R)
When Luminous Everscape enters, if you control another untapped Scape, add .
: Add .

The new subtype having some unique ability is nice. Such as how lairs use to be the original bounce lands.

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Arnabiem, Home to the Rabbitfolk
Legendary Land (Mythic)
When Arnabiem enters the battlefield, target opponent creates a 1/1 green and white Rabbit creature token with a +1/+1 counter on it.
T: Add G or W. Each player may either populate or proliferate.

Since you benefit too from the added tap effect it's seems too powerful. That not counting it coming into play untapped with no downside but an upside with the token. Just feel no lands should on their own be better than the original dual lands. Being legendary makes it worst because it can now me tutored more easily and have plenty of support.

Itlimoc in Ruins
Legendary Land (Mythic)
Itlimoc in Ruins enters the battlefield tapped unless you control five or more creatures.
T: Add G. If you control five or more creatures, you gain 1 life.
7GGG, T: Create a 1/1 black Fungus creature token with "This creature can't block" for each land you control.

Seems balanced. Has the effect of people counting your lands each turn to see when the big boost goes off. Likely 10 creatures added on at the end of another player's turn then your turn you do an overrun effect or have support already.

Top 3

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1st: marioguy3
2nd: kwanyeegor-ii
3rd: KB52665

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Just a top 3

t3

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1 komandon
2 marioguy3
3 kb5265

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Around 24 hours left until the deadline. If you can't make critiques, please make at least top 3.
@KB52665
@AnotherAlias
@void_nothing
@Henlock
@marioguy3

[marioguy3]

Void_nothing: Pretty solid land creature card. This is an unique way to have a land enter untapped, which is a plus. The protection seems really strong too, especially since the mana cost equates to the power/toughness of the creature.

Komandon: This is a decent card. I don't think it can be super easily broken, but having the potential to tap for two white mana each following turn makes this playable if printed in standard.

AnotherAlias: This is quite strong. Not entering tapped makes any additional text palatable. Repeatable creature token without paying mana is even better. I'm not sure if this is too strong. Proliferate works well.

kwanyeegor-ii: This is one polarizing mythic rare land. This will enter tapped most of the time. I feel this is mainly printed for commander, although that last ability could break a limited-game stall open, provided there is a haste enabler nearby.

netn10: This could also be a super swingy land. Who benefits from the turn one proliferate (unlikely, but possible) can make the difference between a close game and a runaway steam engine. At least this is legendary. Two or more of this land in a game would get overwhelming quickly. I love the creation of a Rabbit token though.

KB52665: I think this card could scrape by as a fun five color deck building challenge.

Top 3:
3rd place: KB52665
2nd place: AnotherAlias
1st place: void_nothing

[AnotherAlias]

Top 3:
3rd: Komandon
2nd: KB52665
1st: void_nothing

[void_nothing]

Critiques

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KB52665 - I like land typal themes a lot, and "Scape" is abstract enough to work for every color. I'm just not sure about balance concerns here: Scapeshift, for example, looks like a ticket to a ton of extra mana, but even without broken combos, the single extra mana can be huge.

netn10 - This is a really original design that's splashy and fun, but I'm concerned that the drawback is nowhere near enough for simply the ability to populate/proliferate with mana ability timing. In other words, really interesting but probably broken.

kwanyeegor-ii - Flavor makes sense I would say. That is a doozy of a final activated ability - I'm a bit reticent about putting finisher abilities on lands not only for not taking up a spell slot but also for the resilience of the type. At least the tokens are LCI fungi, which have the recent trend of being unable to block so they don't gum up the board.

AnotherAlias - It's frankly the basic land type that pushes this over the edge for me - I don't think a card like this should be fetchable. Feels very Modern Horizons, but at LEAST this needs to ETB tapped.

Henlock - Enchantment lands might make broken things happen with constellation, but ehh - this is another creative design with a fun new subtype so pushed or not I really like it.

marioguy3 - Really nice design, with the only thing I don't like being the name: it seriously feels like the playtest name and is way too on-the-nose. Feels like a Lorwyn design like Springjack Pasture.

Top 3

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1. Henlock
2. marioguy3
3. netn10

[KB52665]

Top 3:
1. Komandon
2. AnotherAlias
3. Void_nothing

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

And the critique period is closed!